Make sure to download the version appropriate for your operating system (Windows, Mac or Linux) and processor (most likely the non-32-bit version).

Once you’re downloaded and installed KeePassXC open the program and click the “database” menu

In the database menu select “New Database” to create a file that will store your passwords. These files are “encrypted” which means that the data inside it is locked and can only be read by someone if they have your password.

The first thing that you will be asked is where you’d like to save your master password file. Keep on your computer somewhere that you can easily find it! Because the file is password protected and encrypted you can keep it on your desktop without worrying that other users might steal your passwords.

Next, you’ll be asked to create a master password – this is the password you’ll use whenever you want to access your password database. Use the best system you know to create the strongest password you can remember.

Once you’re finished setting the master password it’s time to add new entries to your password database. It’s a good idea to create a new entry for every account you’re already using, but also get in the habit of creating entries when you need to create a new account online. Click the “add new entry” button indicated below.

Once you’ve selected “Add New Entry” you’ll be asked for some information, the name of the website, your username on the site and a URL that you would access the login page from. Don’t enter a password just yet.

Pro tip: for an added layer of security, don’t add card numbers to your database for online bank accounts. That way your username and account will always be separate for high-priority accounts.

Finally, click the icon of the black dice/die on the right hand side of the new entry window, under the eye icon.

Use the slider or the box at the end to specify the length of the password. Make sure that your password isn’t too short or too long for the website you’re using. Then make sure all of the boxes under “character types” are selected in blue. If you run into issues with password characters uncheck the “/*…” type box. When you’re done generating a password you can click on the eye to preview the password or, simply “Apply” on right side of the box to set the password you generated. Once you’re finished the entry should look something like this:

Finally, once you’re finished click “OK” to save the entry.

Now that we’ve set up an entry, it’s time to figure out how to use that entry to log into your accounts. When you need the password you created, right click on the saved entry and select “copy password” this will put the password into your clipboard and you simply right click the password box on your website of choice and select the “paste” put it into the password field.

Petya targets un-patched Microsoft Windows computers and then locks (encrypts) the machine’s contents from the user – pending the payment of a ransom. At present, the e-mail address used to pay the ransom is disabled making it impossible to pay the criminals running this software in exchange for encrypted data. While it is never recommended that users pay a criminal to recover their files, this means that files encrypted by this malware are permanently irretrievable. Recent evidence even suggests that the malware was never designed to allow users to recover their files.

Petya propagates by identifying and infecting other machines on a network, including those which are patched against the SMB vulnerability, making it critical that all systems be patched and up to date.

What U of T is doing:

Defenses are in place at multiple network locations/gateways to block incoming attacks.

The information security team is constantly scanning the university networks to identify unpatched equipment, primarily using outdated and unsupported operating systems such as Windows XP, and to notify appropriate administrators about the need to patch the devices.

What you should do:

Keep your devices up-to-date. Install security updates and patches, particularly those identified as being “critical.” Consider ALL your devices, not just machines used at work.

Maintain backups. The existence and integrity of data and system backups is critical to protecting your data and maintaining availability in case of a compromised device. If you are unsure as to whether your devices are backed up, check with your local IT team.

Making strong, unique passwords is tough. You’ve probably heard tons of unhelpful or contradictory rules and policies for creating strong passwords, including “change your password every 2 months”, “use sentences, not single words to create passphrases”, “make sure they are totally random with letters, numbers and special characters!” or “use dice to make a random password every time!”

It’s difficult to say what the best method is for making passwords and it’s much harder to say how you’re supposed to remember the dozens of different passwords you need. Especially if you’re using a different password to log into your e-mail address, order pizza online, connect on social media and book your next meet-cute on a dating website. If you can’t write them down it seems like you’re going to forget them. Having to reset your passwords constantly isn’t great for your account security and it gets tedious.

Considering using a password manager instead…

Consider using a password manager instead. A password manager can make your life a lot easier and more secure. Password managers are programs that help you create strong passwords and store them in a secure database. Instead of memorizing dozens of unique passwords you only have to remember the one needed to open your password file.

When it comes to managing your online accounts securely, password managers are a blessing. There are password managers available for Windows, Mac, Linux and mobile devices including both Android and Apple phones. There are even online services that will store your passwords securely in the cloud for a subscription fee (but don’t run out and get one of these just yet, more in a minute).

1) Password managers kept on your computer use encrypted key files. Which means that when you create a password file, you are the only person who knows the password to open that file. If you forget your master password, you’ll have to manually reset all your passwords and start over. Still, not a bad trade-off compared to having your account breached because of password re-use.

2) Cloud password managers work on almost every platform and synchronize your passwords automatically. The problem? They are also a popular target of online criminals. So before you run out and pay for a subscription, do your research. Has the cloud password manager you’re looking at had a data breach before? That might be a good warning sign to steer clear.

3) You still need to make sure your computer and browser are free of malware that might steal your passwords. If someone is shoulder surfing, or digitally shoulder surfing your password manager they might know your master key.

Here are a few password managers the Security Matters team uses themselves:

What is troubling about the Anti-Public list specifically, is that it combines password information from multiple data breaches. Combo lists give any criminal with access to these lists the ability to see which users have the same password for all of their accounts. Even if you use a two or three different passwords, it makes breaching your accounts mere guesswork. Armed with this knowledge, any jerk can compromise the account of someone who re-uses passwords, they don’t even have to be a talented hacker.

Combo lists are compelling evidence that you should never re-use the same password for different websites.

Combo lists are compelling evidence that you should never re-use the same password for different websites. Should your password get stolen by a phishing attack, or should one website you use get breached, that password will be known to just about anyone, forever! Even if you change passwords after a data breach you might forget about another, leaving yourself open to further compromise. That’s assuming you ever find out that your password has been compromised in the first place!

Instead, try to use a unique password for every site you access. Unique passwords make it impossible for criminals to simply guess their way into your online accounts. Online crime is all about opportunity, so if your accounts present a challenge they’ll move on to the next person who re-uses their passwords.

Using one password paints a huge target on your back, the digital equivalent of advertising that you keep your house keys under the doormat.

Using one password paints a huge target on your back, the digital equivalent of advertising that you keep your house keys under the doormat.

So, if there’s one thing you need to take away from reading it’s this: Always make a unique password for every online account. Never re-use the same password.

Currently, no incidents of malware have been reported to U of T’s information security team since the WannaCry attack began on Friday.

WannaCry targets unpatched Microsoft Windows computers and then locks the machine’s contents from the user – pending the payment of a ransom amount. WannaCry propagates by identifying and infecting other unpatched machines on a network.

What U of T is doing:

Defences are in place at multiple network locations/gateways to block incoming attacks.

The information security team is constantly scanning the university networks to identify unpatched equipment, primarily using outdated and unsupported operating systems such as Windows XP, and to notify appropriate administrators about the need to patch the devices.

What you should do:

Be careful with e-mail messages. Do not open any messages with offers that are too good to be true. Beware of messages from the CRA about your income tax refund for example, or banks asking for your credentials, or to have you open an attachment.

Keep your devices up-to-date. Install security updates and patches, particularly those identified as being “critical.” Consider ALL your devices, not just machines used at work.

Maintain backups. The existence and integrity of data and system backups is critical to protecting your data and maintaining availability in case of a compromised device. If you are unsure as to whether your devices are backed up, check with your local IT team.

Ever get a computer virus from an e-mail? Know someone who has? The answer to both of these questions is usually a resounding “yes.”

Despite the fact that e-mail has been around for a few decades there are a ton of glaring security flaws in one of the web’s most common mediums for communication. E-mail users are susceptible to malicious e-mails known as phishing, fraudulent e-mails from individuals posing as others using a technique known as ‘spoofing’ and infections with malicious computer programs, known as viruses or malware.

Despite the fact that e-mail has been around for a few decades there are a ton of glaring security flaws in one of the web’s most common mediums for communication.

Last Friday at least 45,000 computers in more that 74 countries, including hospitals and other medical care providers were hit with malware, a malicious computer program known as WannaCry/Wcry. True to it’s name the WannaCry malware forces infected users to pay its creators $600 dollars in bitcoin after three days of becoming infected or their files are destroyed permanently.

Malware infections like WannaCry can spread in a number of ways, often by attacking computers with vulnerable connections to the Internet, or though e-mail attachments.

The timely demands of our academic and/or professional lives, not to mention the limited security of e-mail contribute heavily to the possibility of becoming infected with ransomware through malicious e-mail attachments.

Like last week, we always recommend that you treat all file attachments like strangers at your door. Ask yourself: “Was I expecting a file from the person sending me this?” Instead of blindly opening the attachment call or text the sender to confirm that they sent you a file. Remember: taking 30 seconds could save you hours trying to fix your PC, or in this case $600 dollars.

The other approach you might want to consider is ‘detaching from attachments’, the slogan of the Tibetan Action Institute, which encourages individuals to avoid sharing files over e-mail and instead use a storage service.

It provides you with an additional layer of security by keeping potentially malicious e-mail attachments out of your inbox.

It can be used to store files up to 500 megabytes, helpful for sending large files that won’t fit in an e-mail attachment.

It stores the files on the University of Toronto’s network

It allows you to share the files with anyone once they have the ‘Claim ID’ and ‘Claim Passcode’.

It allows you to exchange sensitive, personal or private information involving University research or business provided it is encrypted.

Keep in mind:

Send only hosts files for 14 days before they are deleted, so it is not suitable for long-term storage. Additionally, send cannot be used to exchange copyrighted material that you do not have permission to exchange including books, music or any other kind of copyrighted media.

It’s four o’clock in the afternoon on a Thursday. You’re over the work week hump, vacation day tomorrow, maybe. The phone buzzes. It’s Gmail, letting you know that your friend Joe has invited you to edit a Google Doc. You open the invite and click on the big blue “Open in Docs” button like you’ve done a thousand times before. A window pops up telling you that ‘Google Docs’ would like permission to “read, send, delete and manage your e-mail” and “manage your contacts.” Annoying. Did you clear your cache recently or something? You click “allow” because it’s already 4:30 and you just want to see what’s going on in this doc before you go home; tomorrow you’ll attack whatever this document is. Weird. Instead of taking you to a doc the last box you clicked on took you back to your Gmail inbox. Now twenty of your friends are texting you wondering why you’re inviting them to edit a Google Doc. This is bad.Read More

We are pleased to announce a new resource available to our community, the Phish Bowl. It is as simple as it sounds! As we spot phishing emails circulating inboxes at U of T, we will post the message contents and a screenshot of the message to our collection of phishing emails into the Phish Bowl.

By providing a collection of verified phishing messages, the community can use this resource to cross check messages they receive when they are not sure if the email message is a phishing attempt or not. In addition, by accessing this resource on regular basis, we hope that faculty, staff and students can become skilled at instantly spotting phishing messages by recognizing common indicators.

While you may think you don’t have anything to hide, your personal privacy and protecting institutional data are important considerations when planning to travel for leisure or work. In this climate of heightened border security, where device searches at the border are prominent in the news, we thought this would be a good opportunity to visit some of the ways in which you can travel more securely.

Our smartphones and other electronic devices store detailed accounts of our conversations, professional lives, whereabouts, and web-browsing habits. They paint a far more detailed picture of our private lives than, say, a piece of luggage.

Tips for maintaining privacy and securing your devices at border crossings and while you are away

Do border agents have the right to search or seize your device? Can they require you to provide passwords to your various social media accounts or apps? You betcha! The laws are fairly grey and yes, you can say “no” to any request to search your devices at the border, but of course, border security can always turn you away for non-compliance.

• Bring a clean device
Is it possible to take a loaner device? If so, this is an opportunity to bring only data that you require for work while travelling and the device can be wiped upon return.
• Travel with reduced information
Keep phone numbers, email addresses, and contacts to a minimum. An example of contacts you may not want to be easily searched: Research study participants…
• Enable security features on your device Two factor authentication. Strong passwords. Encrypted storage. Save your data, reset to factory defaults, and restore your backup when you return.
• Review your email or network connected file storage
When you login to your mobile device, your email is generally viewable to a border agent. Consider what information is available in your inbox, sent mail, or other folders. If you have files available (via Sharepoint for example), review access to that content.
• Use a VPN to access sensitive information
Web-based VPN services can be used to access sensitive information while travelling (assuming the country doesn’t block such service). Using a web-based VPN rather than a standard client-based VPN may reduce the risk of a border agent asking you to activate it.

There is no dearth of information on how to protect your privacy and data while travelling and the points above are not exhaustive. But,they do offer a few handy suggestions to consider while preparing to travel. For more in depth articles and advice view the articles listed below:

Travel to High risk countries
https://uit.stanford.edu/security/travel/high-risk-countries-recommendations

Travel to China or Russia
http://security.uri.edu/travel/travel-to-china-or-russia/